THEATER REVIEWS : Much to Enjoy in Ojai Company’s ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ : An impressive set and several excellent cast members are among the production’s strong points.

Gossip and misunderstanding lead to near tragedy before a merry resolution in Shakespeare’s romantic comedy “Much Ado About Nothing,” the current production of the Ojai Theatre Company.

The troupe, unrelated to the Ojai Shakespeare Festival, is performing only a few weeks following the festival in that outfit’s longtime home, Libbey Bowl. They win no points for originality in that regard, but at least local Shakespeare fans will know where to go. The play, directed by Lena Frederick, closes this weekend.

Attractive young noble folk Benedick and Beatrice seem to despise each other as much as they claim to; virtually every exchange between them is an insult. A friend, Don Pedro, bets some other friends that he’ll have Benedick and Beatrice declaring their mutual love before the end of the play.

In the meantime, another young lord, Claudio, harbors a crush on the lovely Hero, but claims to be too shy to court her. Anticipating Cyrano de Bergerac by a couple of centuries, Don Pedro volunteers to court Hero on Claudio’s behalf, in disguise. Into all of this revelry comes the no-good Don John, who has sworn to separate Claudio and Hero. High jinks ensue.

There’s much to enjoy about the play, beginning with the impressive Italian courtyard set designed by Bob Coble, Jon Cotham and D’Anria and including the intermission snack-bar coffee, which is the best provided by any local theater group. Director Frederick moves the action out into the audience several times, which adds to the immediacy and intimacy of the production, another plus.

Several members of the cast are excellent, none more so than Dwier Brown and Kim Maxwell-Brown as the well-matched Benedick and Beatrice. The scenes in which they attempt to hide while eavesdropping on their plotting friends are practically worth the price of admission. Larry C. Wright is very funny as the constable, Dogberry; James Lashly is strong as the Prince of Aragon, and Stephanie Lowe is delightful as the ingenue, Hero.

Where some other members of the cast fall short is in experience and thus the consequent lack of confidence in their roles.

Two other situations contribute to the less-than-professional level of the show: Frederick, evidently faced with more women than men, cast females as Dogberry’s posse, and she uses an enormous number of very young people to fill the stage for certain scenes. (Some directors have been known to include huge numbers of superfluous cast members to attract ticket-buying friends and neighbors; others just cain’t say “no.”)

The members of Dogberry’s “watch”--Debbie Court, Rachel Tibbitts, Rowan Frederick and Juno Cole--acquit themselves well enough under the circumstances (only one of them made no effort to appear manly at Saturday night’s show), but the pitter-patter of tiny feet overwhelms the stage more than it helps things, no matter how cute the children are in their little costumes.

All in all, this “Much Ado” is an enjoyable experience, although not up to the overall quality of Ojai Shakespeare Festival and California Shakespeare Company productions. If there were only a way that all three groups could pool their considerable resources for the common good. . . .

Details

* WHAT: “Much Ado About Nothing.”

* WHEN: Friday through Sunday at 7:30 p.m.; closes Sunday.

* WHERE: Libbey Bowl, Libbey Park, Ojai at Signal streets, Ojai.

* HOW MUCH: $12 adults, $10 senior citizens and students, children 12 and under free.

* FYI: Unreserved bench or lawn seating. For information, call 646-2992.